Ferry runs on chopping block

By Bill Sheets

Some late-night runs on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry and several weeks of two-boat service on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route would be cut under a budget proposed in the state House of Representatives.

The chamber has yet to vote on the budget. The state Senate has its own budget proposal, which does not include cuts in ferry service.

Under the House budget, the cuts are expected to save $2.1 million.

The 12:30 a.m. crossing fromClintonand the 1:05 a.m. crossing from Mukilteo, Monday through Friday, would be eliminated. Two-boat service between Coupeville and Port Townsend would be reduced to one boat two weeks earlier in the fall and would be restored two weeks later in the spring.

Some round trips also would be eliminated on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah run in southPuget Sound.

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